The Things They Carried

By Tim O'Brien


"I would go to the war-- I would kill and maybe die-- because I was embarrassed not to."



"No sweat," he said. "The magic doesn't go away."
"I got a confession to make. Last night, man, I had to make up a few things"



Reviews by others:

" This writing so powerful that it steals your breath." Milwaukee Journal
"The Things They Carried is as good as any piece of literature can get." Chicago Sun-Times
"Rendered with an evocative, quiet precision, not equaled in the imaginative literature of the American war in 'Vietnam." Washington Post
"You've got to read this book...These stories shine in a strange and opposite direction, moving against the flow, illuminating life's wonder, life's tenuousness, life's importance." Dallas Morning News
"A book so searing and immediate you can almost hear the choppers in the background...This is prose headed for the nerve center of what was Vietnam." Boston College
"An ultimate, indelible image of war in our time, and in time to come." Los Angeles Times



Quote One:I chose this quote because I feel like there isn't any other way to word how some people felt. They didn't go to war because they were mean and wanted to kill people. They went because if they didn't want to let down family, friends, and neighbors then they better go to war. Everyone would be ashamed of them if they didn't go. It is telling you they had no choice to go and if they didn't go to war then they have no reason being here.

Quote Two:I chose this quote because think that sentence is very well said. I like how he is just being honest. He isn’t being mean but he is being straight forward telling them how it is. In other words, he is saying you are always going to have obstacles that you have to overcome. With those obstacles you have to try and find ways to believe in yourself and get through them.

Quote Three:
I chose this quote because I think it proves a point to anyone who says that men or women change after they've been in the war for a while. It is telling you that they end up lying so people are hearing the things they are wanting to hear. They lie because everyone is so depressed that they only want to hear positive; some people may go crazy if the wrong thing is said at the wrong time. The men know that lying isn't right but I think a lot of them are scared to face the consequences of finding out the hard way.

Video One:I chose this video because it shows tons and tons of pictures from the Vietnam War. Not only pictures, but has a song that talks about how things fade away as time goes by. My favorite idea of the short video is that the person that made it took quotes right out of the book and put them in here to describe how people felt, if they weren't quotes they were interesting facts. It caught my eye because some of the pictures were so graphic and real. It's unbelievable to see the pain these men and women go through to fight for our country!


Video Two:I chose this video because it had a wide variety of pictures like the first video did. They were in detail of how the people looked during that time. It showed many pictures of the land and locations of where they slept or had camp. It also had quotes that came right out of the book to help emphasize the point. The song playing in the background described what their feelings could be like, or what family or friends were saying.



Video Three:I chose this homeade video because it gives a preview of the last half of the book. The narrorator of the video told the stoy from the point of view of Tim O'Brien. The men that acted out the part knew what they were saying and used great expression and details with everything. The music fit very well with the video; the sad, quiet, parts of the video have sad, depressing, music to help you get a feeling of how they felt. He even talks to himself describing the thoughts that were running through his head at this point in time.